Max Buhk and Vincent Abril earned a hard-fought win in the #84 HTP Bentley during the Qualfying Race at Algarve. After a gutsy drive in the second half of the race by Buhk, the duo won their second race in a row, fighting off the #1 WRT Audi all the way to the line for the victory.
“It was tough, a really tough race,” said an exhausted Buhk after climbing out of the car. “Robin (Frijns) was all over me in my stint, all over my back, he was faster and on the last lap he tried to overtake me, it wasn’t easy for him.
“I’m glad I made it and held on, because tomorrow is going to be really difficult.”
A drive-through penalty handed to pole-sitter Christopher Mies in the #2 WRT Audi for his efforts to hold the lead into Turn 1 on the first lap, made it a straight fight between the #84 Bentley and #1 Audi for the remaining laps.
Vincent Abril made a lunge up the inside of Mies at Turn 1, taking the lead of the race briefly, but Mies remained committed and used the run-off area on the outside to slingshot back into the lead going into Turn 3. The organisers decided it was an abuse of track limits, and penalised Mies, ending his and teammate Enzo Ide’s chances of winning prematurely. Ide eventually crossed the line 10th.
Another team that suffered on lap 1 of the race was the Always Evolving Motorsport Nissan GT-R of Craig Dolby suffered gear-selection issues through the first complex, and was forced to pit for brief repairs. He lost a lap, and therefore was unable to climb back up the order for the remainder of the race, very poor luck for Dolby and the team, after qualifying sixth on the grid.
Up front the top five runners formed a train that would last until the pit-window opened. When Abril inherited the lead on lap 9, Vanthoor’s #1 WRT Audi sat second, with Marcus Winkelhock’s #6 Phoenix Audi and Stéphane Ortelli’s #3 WRT Audi close behind. The fast flowing sections of the track favoured the Bentley, and the slower corners benefitted the Audis making it a stalemate.
After the stops though, it all started to heat up for the lead of the race. The Phoenix Audi would slip back and remain third until the end with Nicki Mayr-Melnof driving, but the top two diced for almost the entire second half.
HTP were confident that the #84’s stop was quick enough to retain the lead, but when it and the #1 rejoined the race, Frijns in the Audi had edged ahead. The WRT crew proved rapid in pit-lane, allowing the Dutchman to leapfrog Max Buhk.
Buhk and Frijns continued to scrap for a couple of laps, until the sheer power advantage of the Continental down the pit straight allowed Buhk to slip through back into the lead into Turn 1. Frijns wouldn’t back down though, and continued to pile the pressure on Buhk until the end. Lap after lap Frijns got close but couldn’t make anything stick.
It all came down to the last lap, when Buhk made a small error at Turn 9, allowing Frijns to get alongside and try and steal a win. But the pair touched running side-by-side, the Audi running wide and off the circuit. It was a valiant effort from Frijns, but he would have to follow Buhk home.
“It was a long race for me, strggling to overtake,” explained Frijns. “On last lap he started defending hard, I found a way round on the outside of Turn 9, there wasn’t enough room for a Bentley but enough for an Audi. Sadly I touched and blew a tyre though. So close.”
Fourth place was taken by the #333 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari which had to fight its way through the field after a poor qualifying, and the #88 Reiter Lamborghini took fifth after starting from the pit-lane following an engine change before the race. Nick Catsburg’s performance in the openig laps was masterful, the Dutchman wasting no time to climb into the top 10.
Tomorrow’s Main Race is due to start at 2:05 local time.
Stephen Kilbey
